We live in a world in which others are always telling us what to do and even what to think. The chief culprits are politicians. I guess that’s their job but they do lay themselves open to criticism when what they do for their own families flies in the face of the ethics they preach.

Take Shami Chakrabarti, who has sent her son to an independent school, and of course Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Tony Crosland, Polly Toynbee, Diane Abbott, Harriet Harman and Seumas Milne, who chose to do the same.

Baroness Chakrabarti, who incidentally, in my view, thoroughly deserves the honour, has her reasons and they are her business. They must have cost her dear; I feel for her following the tsunami of criticism she received. However, her decision demonstrates the danger we all face when we judge others, only to realise that when we find ourselves in a predicament affecting those we love, life has a habit of being less easy and clear-cut than it was when void of personal interest.

Principle concerns

A Quaker friend of mine used to paraphrase John Stuart Mill’s harm principle by saying that principles are great, as long as they only hurt oneself.

Headteachers are high on the list of those frequently accused of hypocrisy: “What does she know about my workload? She hasn’t taught for over a decade!”

“What does he know about social media? The web wasn’t invented when he was my age!”

“What does it matter to him that holidays cost twice as much in August? He can afford to go away whenever he likes!”

It is easy to judge from a position of partial knowledge and assumption, but it’s incredibly difficult, not only to do, but to be seen to do, the right thing in the eyes of a mixed constituency, each member of which has his or her own set of values.

We don’t pretend to be angels but that is what people expect of us: to be blessed with the Wisdom of Solomon; the strength of a colossus; and the intuition and compassion of a saint. It’s no wonder people sometimes challenge our integrity.

Making a difference

But all good teachers do our best to teach and live by example. When we were new to the profession we believed that teaching was a way, if not the way, to make the world a better place. Not for us the cutthroat world of business or the hugger-mugger of politics. We certainly weren’t in it for the money, but we wanted to make a difference. Despite the slings and arrows of 9D and their parents, government initiatives, growing workloads, people telling us about our long holidays and not knowing what real work is, that is still our energy. We all make mistakes and, sometimes, we are guilty of expecting our students to do as we say and not as we do. We’re human and that matters, too.

Society expects teachers, especially heads, to represent the last bastion of moral rectitude. Everyone else - politicians, clergy people, High Court judges - can make errors of judgement, act on misguided impulse, and be excused. We are supposed to be better than that.

We try; occasionally we fail or are misunderstood, but we believe in the value of what we do and still want to make the world a better place.

Our children are our future and we believe in them.

Sue Freestone is headteacher of King’s Ely in Cambridgeshire